The Dubliner confirmed to the Sunday Independent this weekend that he is to run in the general election in Dublin’s north inner city, declaring he will be “the people’s choice”.
Speaking to journalists in the Dublin Airport arrivals hall, Hutch repeated his intent to run and said he is hoping to officially declare himself as a candidate as early as today, saying: “without a doubt” and that he was “100pc” going for it.
When asked whose seat in the Dublin Central constituency did he believe to be most at risk, he replied; “I’ll take any seat.”
Wearing a yellow open neck shirt and cream trousers, the Dublin man branded by gardai as the head of the Hutch organised crime group shook his head when asked if he had any worries about a money laundering investigation in Spain from which he was granted bail last week and said he had nothing to do with it.
Asked what policies he intends to run with in the election, he shrugged and said it wasn’t the appropriate place to talk about it.
When asked by the Irish Independent whose seat was most at risk with his entry onto the ballot paper, he said: “I don’t know. Any seat will do me. I’m not pushed.”
While not being evasive, Hutch was keen to get away from the media and walked to a restaurant upstairs in Terminal 1 while being followed by photographers.
He said he wasn’t worried that the case in Spain would impact his ability to serve people here.
Hutch has yet to officially declare himself for election by applying at the City Sheriff’s Office, and confirmed he intends to do that today if possible.
But as the questions mounted about the case in Spain, Hutch waved the media away and didn’t answer any more questions.
He is currently out on €100,000 bail in Lanzarote under investigation for money-laundering offences.
Gerry Hutch at Dublin Airport today. Photo: Steve Humphreys.
Hutch will be standing up against a number of high-profile sitting TDs, including Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald and Fine Gael’s Public Expenditure Minister Paschal Donohoe.
At a Save Moore Street campaign event in Dublin on Sunday, Ms McDonald was asked whether she was worried about Hutch running in her constituency.
“Look, anybody can run in the election, that is their prerogative, that’s a matter for himself,” Ms McDonald said.
“I’m running with my running mate, Councillor Janice Boylan. This election is about changing the government and we’ll be inviting people to vote for Sinn Féin to change the Government, that’s where my head and my focus is at.”
Hutch is campaigning online because of concerns around his own safety.
Gerry Hutch at Dublin Airport today. Photo: Steve Humphreys.
Hutch, acquitted last year of the 2016 Regency Hotel gangland murder of Kinahan cartel lieutenant David Byrne, will focus on a social media campaign over traditional canvassing. He intends to address potential voters using video content to speak to them directly and get his message across.
While The Monk will do an element of door-to-door canvassing, it is understood his focus will be on drumming up support online from people in his constituency.
However, he has maintained his roots with Dublin’s inner city, where many of his family remain.
Hutch has earmarked Corinthians Boxing Club in Summerhill as his general election headquarters.
Gerry Hutch at Dublin Airport today. Photo: Steve Humphreys.
He was recently held in custody in Lanzarote for 12 days on suspicion of money laundering. He was released on bail last Monday amid rumours already swirling that he intended to stand in the general election.
Spanish court officials said his bid to run for the Dáil had been a fundamental part of his successful appeal against his remand in prison in Lanzarote.
Hutch said this weekend that his decision to run in the general election was “already made” ahead of his arrest in Lanzarote.
Feud
The “patriarch” of the Hutch family has been embroiled in a feud with the Kinahan cartel for a number of years.
He was issued with a Garda Information Message in 2016, warning of a threat to his life from the Kinahan cartel.
That threat remains, but gardaí and those close to him believe it has reduced significantly and he is not in imminent danger.
He has intermittently been involved in community activism since the 1990s
He has already survived at least two murder attempts by the cartel, who tried to kill him at the height of the Hutch-Kinahan feud.
The Monk lives in Dublin and Lanzarote, where he spends much of the year.
It has long been speculated that he has a significant property portfolio, mostly overseas, that he would have to declare if elected.
Despite his involvement in crime since he was a boy, he has intermittently been involved in community activism since the 1990s.
Hutch has no convictions for drug dealing — despite a garda belief that he has been involved in wholesale cannabis importation as part of the Hutch Organised Crime Gang.
The Monk is long suspected of having planned two of the biggest armed robberies in the history of the State.
The first targeted a Securicor van outside the Bank of Ireland at Marino Mart, Dublin, in 1987, and the second was the £3m raid on the Brinks Allied security company depot in Clonshaugh, north Dublin, in 1995.
Hutch bought the Corinthians Boxing Club, near Buckingham Street, in 1998, renting it to the club for €1 a year on a 99-year lease after its previous premises were destroyed by fire.
He has served as treasurer of the club, where boxers including Olympic champion Kellie Harrington have trained.
He was among the thousands of people who took to the streets of Dublin city centre in August when Harrington was welcomed home from the Paris Olympics.
As a young man, Hutch amassed 30 convictions for offences including burglary, assault, larceny, car theft, so-called joy riding and malicious damage. He was sentenced to two years for malicious damage in 1983, which was his last criminal conviction.
